North Korea rebuffs diplomatic talks with South Korea, Houthi rebels threaten to target any ships doing business with Israel.
1. North Korea has no interest in diplomatic talks with the South, and Seoul’s recent push to mend ties with Pyongyang is “not the work worthy of appreciation,” according to a Monday statement attributed to the dictator’s powerful sibling. Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un and a member of North Korea’s State Affairs Commission, its top tier ruling body, dismissed as fantasy any attempt to ease tensions between the two countries, according to the Korean Central News Agency. These “‘sincere efforts’” are akin to “spinning a daydream,” according to Kim Yo Jong’s statement, her first commentary on new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. Lee was inaugurated June 3 after a snap-election following former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment four months earlier and removal from office in April.
2. The rebel Houthi group in Yemen has said it will target merchant ships belonging to any company that does business with Israeli ports, regardless of nationality, as part of what it described as the next phase of its operations against Israel. The Iran-backed Houthis launched a campaign targeting merchant vessels in response to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, saying they were doing so in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Their attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which $1 trillion of goods usually passes each year. In an announcement late Sunday night, the Houthis said they had “decided to escalate their military support operations and begin implementing the fourth phase of the naval blockade” against Israel.
3. Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians in multiple locations across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said, a day after Israel eased aid restrictions in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory. The dead included a newborn who was delivered in a complex surgery after his mother, who was seven months pregnant, was killed in a strike, according to the Nasser Hospital. Israel announced Sunday that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day until further notice to allow for the improved flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where concern over hunger has grown, and designate secure routes for aid delivery. Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. The Israeli military had no immediate comment about the latest strikes, which occurred outside the time frame for the pause Israel declared would be held between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
4. Senators have one more week of work on Capitol Hill before their August recess, but the to-do list doesn’t include the annual defense authorization bill anymore. Lawmakers had hoped the measure might be brought up for a chamber vote before the break. But on Thursday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said that chamber leaders will move to put the must-pass budget policy bill on the floor this week, pushing work on the legislation to September. He said he hopes the measure will be “the first agenda item when we come back” from break. Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have passed their respective drafts of the defense authorization bill with wide bipartisan margins. But reaching a final compromise draft is still expected to take months of work.’
5. Russia on Sunday scaled down the festivities honoring its navy citing security concerns as continuing Ukrainian drone attacks posed a challenge to the Kremlin. Russian authorities canceled the parades of warships in St. Petersburg, in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic and in the far-eastern port of Vladivostok that are usually held to mark the annual Navy Day celebrations.- Asked about the reason for the cancellation of the parade in St. Petersburg even as President Vladimir Putin arrived in his home city to visit the navy headquarters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it’s linked to the overall situation, security reasons, which are above all else.”
- Security